Cultural Models Affecting Indian-English 'Matrimonials' and British-English Contact Advertisements with a View to Marriage: A Corpus-based Analysis Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Neuphilologischen Fakultät der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg vorgelegt von Sandra Frey 1 Dedicated to my husband and to my parents 1 Table of Contents Abbreviations and Acronyms .................................................................................... 6 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 13 1.1 Aims and Scope ................................................................................................ 14 1.2 Methods and Sources ........................................................................................ 15 1.3 Chapter Outline ................................................................................................ 17 1.4 Previous Scholarship ........................................................................................ 18 2 Matrimonials as a Text Type ................................................................................ 21 2.1 Definition and Classification ............................................................................ 21 2.2 Function ............................................................................................................ 22 2.3 Structure ........................................................................................................... 25 3 The Data ................................................................................................................. 30 3.1 Background Information on English in India ................................................... 30 3.1.1 The History of English in India ................................................................. 30 3.1.2 The Linguistic Situation and the Contemporary Role of English in India 32 3.1.3 What is ‘Indian English’? .......................................................................... 33 3.1.4 Indian English Lexis .................................................................................. 36 3.1.4.1 English Lexical Items ....................................................................... 36 3.1.4.2 Indian Lexical Items ......................................................................... 37 3.2 The Indian Corpus ............................................................................................ 38 3.2.1 Composition .............................................................................................. 38 3.2.2 The Times of India ..................................................................................... 39 3.2.3 The Statesman ............................................................................................ 41 3.2.4 The Hindu .................................................................................................. 42 3.2.5 The Milli Gazette ....................................................................................... 43 3.3 The British Corpus ........................................................................................... 44 4 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................ 47 4.1 Accounting for Linguistic Variation................................................................. 47 4.2 Conceptual Metaphor Theory ........................................................................... 49 4.3 The ‘Cultural Model of American Marriage’ (Quinn 1987) ............................ 50 4.4 The Interdependency of Conceptual Metaphors and Cultural Models ............. 50 4.5 Applying Quinn’s Method to the Present Data ................................................ 52 5 Analysis ................................................................................................................... 55 5.1 Preliminaries and Methodology ....................................................................... 55 5.2 Length of the Advertisements........................................................................... 56 5.3 Authorship ........................................................................................................ 57 5.4 Self-Denotation of the Advertisers ................................................................... 62 5.4.1 The Indian Corpus ..................................................................................... 62 5.4.1.1 Grooms ............................................................................................. 67 5.4.1.1.1 Indian Lexical Items ................................................................. 67 5.4.1.1.2 English Lexical Items ............................................................... 72 5.4.1.1.3 Comparison Parents/Families – Self ......................................... 74 5.4.1.2 Brides................................................................................................ 74 2 5.4.1.2.1 Indian Lexical Items ................................................................. 74 5.4.1.2.2 English Lexical Items ............................................................... 76 5.4.1.2.3 Comparison Parents/Families – Self ......................................... 80 5.4.2 The British Corpus .................................................................................... 81 5.4.2.1 Men ................................................................................................... 81 5.4.2.2 Women ............................................................................................. 83 5.5 Partner-Denotation............................................................................................ 84 5.5.1 The Indian Corpus ..................................................................................... 84 5.5.1.1 Brides................................................................................................ 84 5.5.1.1.1 Indian and English Lexical Items ............................................. 84 5.5.1.1.2 Comparison Parents/Families – Self ......................................... 88 5.5.1.2 Grooms ............................................................................................. 89 5.5.1.2.1 Indian and English Lexical Items ............................................. 89 5.5.1.2.2 Comparison Parents/Families – Self ......................................... 92 5.5.2 The British Corpus .................................................................................... 93 5.5.2.1 Women ............................................................................................. 93 5.5.2.2 Men ................................................................................................... 93 5.6 Comparison and Matching of the Self- and Partner-Denotations ..................... 94 5.6.1 The Indian Corpus ..................................................................................... 94 5.6.1.1 Comparison ...................................................................................... 94 5.6.1.2 Matching ........................................................................................... 97 5.6.2 The British Corpus .................................................................................. 102 5.6.2.1 Comparison .................................................................................... 102 5.6.2.2 Matching ......................................................................................... 103 5.7 Features Used in Self-Description .................................................................. 104 5.7.1 The Indian Corpus ................................................................................... 104 5.7.1.1 AGE/DOB .......................................................................................... 108 5.7.1.2 APPEARANCE ................................................................................... 114 5.7.1.3 HEIGHT ............................................................................................ 117 5.7.1.4 COMMUNITY .................................................................................... 119 5.7.1.5 EDUCATION ..................................................................................... 121 5.7.1.6 PROFESSION ..................................................................................... 122 5.7.1.7 LOCATION ........................................................................................ 125 5.7.1.8 FAMILY BACKGROUND ..................................................................... 127 5.7.1.9 INCOME ........................................................................................... 128 5.7.1.10 ECONOMIC STATUS ........................................................................ 131 5.7.1.11 POSSESSIONS .................................................................................. 133 5.7.1.12 ATTRIBUTES ................................................................................... 134 5.7.1.13 HOROSCOPE ................................................................................... 135 5.7.1.14 MARITAL STATUS ........................................................................... 136 5.7.1.15 SKILLS ........................................................................................... 138 5.7.1.16 HOBBIES/INTERESTS ....................................................................... 138 5.7.1.17 PHYSICAL CONDITION ...................................................................